Draft done: next steps

[TheABC]

I am sitting here, slightly stunned after bashing out 70,000 words this summer for my first novel (adult fantasy).

Now I need to pull my big girl pants on and actually show it to someone! I'm under no illusions it needs a lot of revision and editing, but I want to get most of the typos, plot holes and problems out of the way before looking for a professional.

Where do you go for criticism? At what stage do you inflict it on your nearest and dearest?

I have a fellow author as a beta reader, she will look at it structurally for me. But once I've written a first draft I go right through doing a structural edit first, then a line edit. Then it goes to my beta reader while I do a proof read and then I do any edits that my beta reader has found.

Thanks, @LouisaMayAlcott.
I will take your advice and start the editing. I will also look around for a writing group or similar for a beta reader

I don't inflict it on my nearest and dearest for critiquing. They aren't much help there.
They either think it's brilliant or complain that I've used them/their phrases.

What I do is send it to my phone and read it through in bed first. That way I come at it fresher than reading it on the computer. It's somehow easier to pick up mistakes doing that. I have a notebook next to the bed that I note things down in.

I also do a few searches through the document. One for double spaces, or things that I often do by accident, such as "juts" rather than "just", and words I know I over use ("slightly" is one).

Then I read it out loud and see how it sounds. It's funny how you pick up totally different things when reading out loud. I write children's stories so I often read it to ds. It's nice because you get his reaction too, so you can see if a tense bit is tense to him (he hides under his blanket) or a sad bit comes across as sad not funny etc.

Then I post on Scribophile a chapter at a time. There are others around where you can do this-there's someone on her that will be along to tell you she didn't like Scribe and does another one. Can't remember which, but generally they've all got their ups and downs. Have a look at a few and make a choice.

It has the advantage that strangers are more honest, and you get a fresh look at it. I've made some good critique partners on it, and you do get a better writer by critiquing others too.

Thank you, @MargaretThursday.

Thank you a lot! You`ve done a great work, congratulations